hall_of_horrorfandomcom-20200214-history
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 American horror film co-written and directed by Sam Raimi. The plot, written with his brother Ivan, focuses on loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), who reluctantly, under orders from her boss, must refuse to extend a loan to a gypsy woman by the name of Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver). In retaliation, Ganush places a curse on Christine that, after three days of escalating torment, will plunge her into the depths of Hell to burn for eternity. The film also stars Justin Long as Christine's boyfriend. Raimi wrote Drag Me to Hell with his brother, Ivan, prior to working on the Spider-Man films. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was released to wide critical acclaim. It was also a box office success, making $90.8 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. Drag Me to Hell won the award for Best Horror Film at the 2009 Scream Awards and the 2010 Saturn Awards. In 1969 in Pasadena, California, a couple seeks the aid of the medium Shaun San Dena (Flor de Maria Chahua) saying their son (Shiloh Selassie) has been hearing evil spirits' voices after stealing a silver necklace from gypsies. San Dena aids the family by carrying out a seance, but they are attacked by an unseen force that pulls the boy into Hell. The medium says she will encounter the force again one day. In present day Los Angeles, bank loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) hopes to be promoted to assistant manager over her co-worker Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee). Her boss, Jim Jacks (David Paymer), advises her to demonstrate that she can make tough decisions to get a promotion. Christine is visited by an elderly woman, Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver), who asks for an extension on her mortgage payment. Christine, though empathetic with the old woman's crisis, decides to deny Ganush an extension to prove herself to her boss. Ganush begs Christine not to repossess her house and kneels in front of her, but Christine gets scared from the woman's bizarre pleading as she is helping her to stand up and calls the security, who take Ganush away while Ganush blames Christine for "shaming" her. Jim compliments Christine on how she handled the situation. When the working day is over and Christine goes to the bank parking garage to head home, Ganush attacks Christine in her car, rips a button off Christine's coat and uses it to place a curse on her as revenge. Later, Christine and her boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long) meet the fortune teller Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) who, after seeing multiple demonic faces, tells Christine that she is being haunted by an evil spirit. At her home, Christine is attacked by the spirit and has nightmares about Ganush. At work the next day, Christine snaps at Stu and has a projectile nose bleed that soaks her boss in blood. She runs away and Stu is seen secretly taking a file off Christine's desk. Christine then goes to talk to Ganush at her soon-to-be-taken home, only to find that she died the previous night and a wake is being held. Christine returns to Rham Jas, who explains that as long as Christine is the owner of an accursed object (her button), she will be haunted by a powerful demon called the Lamia (not to be confused with the Greekchild-eating demon) that will torment her for three days before taking her to Hell. He suggests a sacrifice to appease the demon. The next day, the Lamia returns and thrashes Christine in her bedroom. Desperate to stop the attacks, Christine sacrifices her pet kitten, an act that leaves her heart-broken. At a dinner party with Clay and his parents, she is again tormented by the Lamia, but this time through the use of illusions, which frightens the Daltons. Christine returns to Rham Jas for further help. He says that Shaun San Dena (Adriana Barraza) will risk her life to stop the demon for a fee of $10,000. Further supernatural attacks on Christine lead Clay to pay the fee. San Dena prepares a seance to trap the Lamia's spirit in a goat and kill it to vanquish the spirit. San Dena allows the Lamia to inhabit her body. Rham Jas tries to persuade it not to steal Christine's soul, but it refuses and vows never to stop until Christine dies. Christine then places San Dena's hand on the goat, causing the spirit to enter its body. San Dena's assistant, Milos, attempts to kill the goat, but is instead bitten by the goat and in turn becomes possessed, attacking the members of the seance. San Dena banishes the Lamia from the seance, but dies in the process. Christine thinks the medium has overcome the Lamia, but Rham Jas explains that she only managed to drive the spirit away until the next day, when it will come back for Christine. Then he seals the cursed button in an envelope and tells Christine that before the next day comes, she can get rid of the curse by giving the button to someone as a gift, thereby passing the curse on to that person. After being driven home by Clay, who doesn't know what actually happened at the seance, Christine attempts to find a recipient for the curse. She decides to give the envelope to Stu in revenge for his stealing her work, but changes her mind after seeing how pathetic, tearful and panicky Stu is when he meets her. With guidance from Rham Jas, Christine learns that she can give it to Ganush even though she is dead because "the soul never dies". Christine drives to the cemetery where she is buried and digs up her grave. In a torrential downpour, Christine jams the envelope in Ganush's mouth in anger and gets out of the grave just in time before dawn. Christine then returns home. Preparing to meet Clay at Los Angeles Union Station from where they plan to depart for a weekend in Santa Barbara, she gets a phone message from her boss telling her that she landed her dream position after Stu confessed to stealing her work and was fired. At the station, Christine also buys a coat that she has been eyeing for a long time, as a sign of a new beginning. Clay, planning to propose, reveals to Christine that he found the envelope containing the cursed button in his car. Christine then realizes she mixed up her envelope with another that she gave to Clay when she accidentally dropped it. Horrified, Christine backs away and falls onto the tracks. As a train barrels towards her, fiery hands burst from the ground under the tracks. Clay can only watch in horror as Christine is dragged screaming down into Hell, and is left holding Christine's cursed button. Category:Movies